#surfingnj

[joehodnicki]

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Missing these night on @crystalclearsurfchartersboat with the gang @higgsyo @jettycory @shaun_csb @lbisurfing @zeegisbreathing @diggeratlee @frank_mancini @surfingnj @brussels_griffon #mentawai #1056bingtangs #indonesia #nofilter #sunset #iphone7plus

[tylervaughan]

Common Grounds

Common Grounds

  Romantic and exaggerated descriptions are wasted on a homebreak. Superficial attitudes and lopsided perspectives just don’t cut it around here. Don’t have much to do with the bottom line. A homebreak knows the whole story. 

  A homebreak doesn’t need you to make a scene or take a stand in her defense; just subtly encourage that she be respected. Don’t hesitate and be sure to move efficiently when you interrupt wave watching to retrieve the plastic bag filled with trash and hand it back to the dick-head who threw it out his car window. And when your overzealous buddy is reaming some guy out in the lineup for being a kook, it isn’t really necessary for the whole crew to gang up on him and read ‘em the riot act. Just be sure he knows theres a good four or five of you intently watching how the whole ordeal plays out. A homebreak demands presence.

  You and your friends might think you’re the hot ticket these days, but you’re at least partially ignorant to a whole slew of other surfers that she has accommodated over the past 50 years. And those guys were undoubtedly tougher than you. A worthy spot tends to attract loyal followers, and will continue to do so after you and your buddies are long gone, so don’t get all jealous boyfriend on her. Hoot fresh faced groms into waves and acknowledge your elders. Show some respect to that old, gritty loke who surfs in the middle when it’s small and clean and often cruises the boardwalk with his black shades on, wearing a black sleeveless tee and black cut-off jeans, actually smoking Marlboro Blacks. Pay attention when he describes his last wipe-out that kept him out of the water for weeks. Yesterday you didn’t even know he had been surfing the place for 40 years strong. Yesterday you didn’t even know Marlboro Blacks existed. A homebreak is all about the details. 

  Yeah it was just a few of you three winters ago when it was churning out identical five wave, A-frame sets for hours on end. You and your best friends lining up for standup barrels, one after another, screaming joy for an entire afternoon. Just about as good as it gets in this town, or on this entire seaboard for that matter. But even though it was special and you were special, don’t trick yourselves into thinking that you were the only ones or the best that ever were. Remember those that have honed their skills on those steep, ledging drops in that very spot. Some got so good that they rode those crisp, heaving peaks straight out of this cold beachfront town into foreign waves that most of us couldn’t even look at long enough to think about tackling. Think about the all the others. Countless sessions for countless surfers feeding countless dreams. A homebreak produces.

  And it was also just the boys around when it went flat for two months and the ocean couldn’t do much but lap peacefully upon the shoreline. You were the only ones watching and waiting. Some of you couldn’t help but pass by early in the morning on the way to work, just to confirm the hopelessness of the situation. Others came down later to drink coffee and languidly hang because they had no where else to go. But when the pros show up on tour and happen into the best day of the year, they are going to get some good waves whether you like it or not. Demand respect and be courteous hosts. Let her shine in all her spitting glory and show herself to new eyes. She’s not yours. You and the boys are still going to get a lot of the good ones, and your local national treasure is going to show the visitors who’s boss anyway. A homebreak impresses. 

  As surfers, we feel that what goes down on a proper swell out front is the most important act we know, and consequently it can become quite easy to slight the fringes of our sacred zones. But let us not forget the passer-bys that walk along the boardwalk promenade, past where the old pier burnt down, through the gloating new apartments and store fronts that pushed out all that low income housing and sent the tenants inland. These individuals preserve their mother tongues as they converse in the language of old on a Sunday stroll along the shore, mostly oblivious to the volatile conditions of the sea that make or break our spirits day in and day out, year after year after year. They are as much a part of the whole scene as each one of us. Because a homebreak isn’t just about the fleeting moments we spend in flux, ascending and descending aqueous scales of a ubiquitous, ever changing sea song, it’s about the lives we strive to maintain in an attempt to root ourselves upon the sturdy land where we rise and each day face the great berth of a fathomless unknown.